New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani said Thursday that although he holds significant policy differences with President Donald Trump, he intends to work with the administration on any initiatives that he believes will benefit New Yorkers.
Mamdani is scheduled to meet with Trump at the White House on Friday at 3 p.m. ET. It will be their first meeting and comes shortly after Mamdani’s victory in the November 4 New York City mayoral election.
“I have many disagreements with the President, and I believe that we should be relentless and pursue all avenues and all meetings that can make our city affordable for every single New Yorker,” Mamdani told reporters, per NDTV.
“I intend to make it clear to President Trump that I will work with him on any agenda that benefits New Yorkers. If an agenda hurts New Yorkers, I will also be the first to say so,” he added.
Mamdani noted that his team reached out to the administration for the meeting “because I will work with anyone to make life more affordable for the more than eight and a half million people who call this city home.” He also said it’s customary for an incoming New York City Mayor to meet with the White House, “given the mutual reliance.”
He said the meeting is especially important amid a national affordability crisis — a challenge New Yorkers experience across the city — as well as concerns in many municipalities about maintaining public safety while responding to policy changes implemented by the current administration.
Mamdani went on to note that for New Yorkers, his meeting with the president “is between two very different candidates who they voted for the same reason. They wanted a leader who would take on the cost of living crisis that makes it impossible for working people to afford living in this city.”
In a post on Truth Social Wednesday night, Trump had said that the “communist” Mayor of New York City “Zohran ‘Kwame’ Mamdani, has asked for a meeting. We have agreed that this meeting will take place at the Oval Office on Friday, November 21st.”
Trump has been sharply critical of Mamdani’s policy positions and warned on the eve of the November 4 election that a Mamdani victory would be a “complete and total economic and social disaster” for New York City.
In his victory speech, Mamdani pushed back against Trump, who has intensified immigration enforcement during his second term. Mamdani said New York would continue to be strengthened by its immigrant communities and, following his historic win, would now be “led by an immigrant.”
“After all, if anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him. And if there is any way to terrify a despot, it is by dismantling the very conditions that allowed him to accumulate power,” Mamdani had said to raucous applause.
“This is not only how we stop Trump; it’s how we stop the next one. So, Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: Turn the volume up,” Mamdani added.
Trump described Mamdani’s victory speech as “very angry,” saying the mayor-elect was “off to a bad start” and would struggle to succeed without showing respect for federal leadership.
Mamdani won the closely watched New York City mayoral race, becoming the first South Asian and first Muslim to lead the nation’s largest city. He had been the front-runner for months and defeated Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who ran as an independent and received Trump’s endorsement just hours before polls closed.
